How do I change my Rate Tables?
Add or Modify Rates
This section includes provision for setting the various rates needed for Rent-Ware to assign rates and calculate the close of a Rental Agreement. Daily time and mileage, other rates pertaining to the fuel, sales tax assignment, and optional coverages such as LDW, PAI, and PEC are set in this section. The following sections outline each procedure relating to adding or modifying rates.
Adding or Modifying Standard Rental Rates
The Standard Rental Rate Table function allows you to establish rate tables for your various kinds of rentals. You can create these rate tables to take into account such factors as vehicle classes, customer types, rental terms (hourly, daily and weekly charges), minimum billings, and grace periods, as your needs require.
Whenever rate codes are used in Rent-Ware, such as during the open of a Rental Agreement, two items are required to determine the choice of the set of rates: the Rate Code and the Rate Class. The operator selects the Rate Code at the time of the rental, and the Rate Class is usually set to the same value as the Vehicle Class (but you may override it by editing the Class field on the Rental Agreement).
The Rate Classes are the same as the vehicle classes, which are set using the Vehicle Classification screen ( 7 7 3 6). If they have not been set up or you wish to change the rate classes, you should make those modifications before proceeding with this section. Refer to Vehicle Classification on page 144 for the procedure on setting up vehicle classes.
Use this section to set up Standard Rate codes. There are 26 possible Standard Rate Codes, designated "A" to "Z". The rate codes are always presented alphabetically, but they do not need to be defined sequentially. This means that you can pick alphabetic letters that can represent the name of the desired rate. For example, "R" can be used for the "RAC" rate, "I" could indicate the insurance rental rate, "W" could be used for the weekend rate, and so forth. Unused Rate Code letters will not appear in the rate lists presented at the time of rate selection or on the printed reports that show rate codes.
When Combined, the group of Standard Rate Codes and Rate Classes comprise a rate table. Your rate table might look something like:
|
Rate Codes: |
Cash (C) |
Insurance (I) |
RAC (R) |
Unlim Mi. (U) |
Weekend (W) |
|
Rate Classes:? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Economy (0) |
Cash rate for Economy |
Insurance Rate for Economy |
RAC rate for Economy |
Unlim Rate for Economy |
Wkend Rate for Economy |
|
Compact (1) |
Cash rate for Compact |
Insurance Rate for Compact |
RAC rate for Compact |
Unlim Rate for Compact |
Wkend Rate for Compact |
|
Intermediate (2) |
Cash rate for Intermediate |
Insurance Rate for Intermed. |
RAC rate for Intermediate |
Unlim Rate for Intermediate |
Wkend Rate for Intermediate |
|
Fullsize (3) |
Cash rate for Fullsize |
Insurance Rate for Fullsize |
RAC rate for Fullsize |
Unlim Rate for Fullsize |
Wkend Rate for Fullsize |
|
Luxury (4) |
Cash rate for Luxury |
Insurance Rate for Luxury |
RAC rate for Luxury |
Unlim Rate for Luxury |
Wkend Rate for Luxury |
This rate table allows you to establish a single rate structure for all counter operators, to provide uniformity, accuracy, and security in customer pricing.
Use the following procedure to add a new rate. The following procedure assumes you are adding a rate. The procedure for modifying a rate is exactly the same, except that you will select an existing rate code in the second step.
1. Select 7 7 2 1 from the Main Menu.
The Rate Groups window will appear as follows:
Your first time in the program, there will be no rate groups defined.
Use the following procedure to add a new rate. The following procedure assumes you are adding a rate. The procedure for modifying a rate is exactly the same, except that you will select an existing rate code in the second step.
2.Press Add New to add a new rate group. If you would like to modify an existing rate, highlight that rate and press Modify.
The following selection list will appear:
3. Select a letter to be used to represent your new rate. It should be a letter that does not appear in the list of currently defined rates. Press Ok to continue.
In defining a new rate, you may wish to choose a letter that will relate to the type of rate you are defining (such as "R" for "RACK" rate, "I" for "Insurance", "G" for Government etc.). You can print out these rates by pressing 7 7 2 2 from the Main Menu.
To modify an existing Rate Table, highlight the rate you wish to modify and then click Modify.
The Edit Standard Rental Rates window will then appear as follows:
4. Fill in the fields, using the following table to assist you.
|
Field Name |
Description |
|
Rate Name |
Descriptive label for the rate. This label will appear in help window on the rental agreement screen at the time of rate selection. |
|
Mesg |
Message text that will appear on the customer's printed copy of the Rental Agreement whenever this rate is selected. |
|
Minimum Rental |
Minimum number of hours allowed for rental. |
|
Grace Period |
Number of minutes late a customer may return the rented vehicle before being charged an additional amount (hour, day, etc.). Common practice is to grant a 59 minute grace period. |
|
Calendar Days |
Enter Y if you wish to have a calendar day used as the basis for the daily calculation, otherwise the day will be calculated as 24 hours. |
|
Insurance Mode |
Enter Y if you would like Rent-Ware to assist you in determining the insurance billable amount upon the closing of Rental Agreements using this rate. |
|
Taxes/Surcharges (Airport Access Fee, Sales Tax, Rental License Tax) |
If this rate is for government rentals or for internal rentals, the rental may be exempted from some taxes and surcharges. If this is the case, enter Y in the exempt column for the applicable fields. |
|
Custom Rate |
Use this field only when establishing a rate that does not fit one of the pre-determined rental periods, such as for a weekend or weekday special rate. If this rate uses only the pre-defined periods, you may press E at this point to set up the individual class rates. Be sure "None" appears if you are applying only the standard rate increments within this Rate Group.
A Custom Rate may be set one of two ways to determine what happens if a rental exceeds the custom rate period. If the "Fallback" option is selected, the rate will be honored for the duration of the custom rate period, then the regular rates will be applied to any time outside of this period. By contrast, the "Limited" option will honor the special rate only if the rental does not exceed the custom rate time period; otherwise the other rates are used instead.
No matter which method is selected, you must give it a Title of up to 8 characters that will describe it on the Rental Agreement screen and on most Rental Agreement forms. To complete definition of the custom rate, you will be prompted to select the day and hour at which the rate begins and ends. |
|
Extended Rates Link |
This set of fields extends the rate table when your system requires more than 26 rate groups. If you have not been using the extended rate table in prior Rent-Ware versions then you should press Enter to bypass this area. |
5. After entering information for the rate group, you may begin to define the individual rates for each vehicle classification within the group.
6. Double click in the Rates for Class box.
A selection list showing the undefined classes will appear.
7. Select the class to define.
8. Enter the information in the fields using the following table as a guide.
|
Field |
Description |
|
Time and Mileage |
The rate and free mileage for each time increment (hour, day, week, month). If a particular time increment is not used, set its value to 0.00. If unlimited mileage is offered for this rate, then no free mileage needs to be entered, and the Extra Miles should be left at 0. |
|
Fuel/ Mile |
This is the fuel charge per mile. |
|
LDW, PAI, PAC, MCV |
These are Optional Coverages. Set these to Loc to use the defaults specified in the Location Information screen (7 7 2 3), or you can set each one to a specific charge for this Rate Group and Class. Each can also be set to 0.00 if you wish to offer coverage options for this Rate Group Class at no extra charge. |
|
Extended Link |
This is disabled when the upper portion of the Extended Rate has not been set. |
9. When you have finished entering the first vehicle classification, you may press Add New Class to add another or Ok to save changes. If you would like to delete the class, press Delete Class.
10. When all classes for the rate group are defined, press Ok to return to the Rate Group screen.